The Sense of An Ending
ONE WEEK LATER
Lilith turns over and looks out the window. A hint of yellow peeks through the curtains; she looks to her right and the bed is empty, the same as it had been each night since the great cider unveiling. She wraps a shawl around herself and goes to the living room.
As she’d suspected, Juno had fallen asleep on a rug in the den. She lies curled up by the remnants of the fire, half a smile on her face, never looking more like an innocent child. Lilith resists an urge to stroke her hair, to hold her close and tell her that she’s safe now, that everything will be fine. Then she remembers her eyes as they were that night, hard as stone, and she tries to still the worry that the stranger in her midst is more dangerous than she seems.
With a sigh, she turns to the kitchen and thinks that she’d better start breakfast.
About an hour later, Juno walks up to Lilith and hands her a book.
“What’s this?”
“A peace offering.”
“You didn’t need to do that.” Lilith opens the book anyway, and reads the title aloud. “The Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens.”
“I think you’ll like it. I’ve read it a few times.”
“What’s it about?”
“The French revolution. Fighting tyranny in the name of justice. Etc.”
“I don’t know anything about France, but the rest of it sounds interesting.”
“It's violent and dramatic and all the things you want a story to be.”
“Violent how?"
“Let's just say a few noblemen lose their heads, and not in the metaphorical sense.”
“Juno I...don't think I can read this. I've seen it happen.” Lilith swallows and hands the book back. "It haunts me in my sleep.”
“Seen what? People getting their heads chopped off?” Off Lilith’s nod, she looks away and shakes her head. “You said you like to read. I just wanted to make up for the other night.”
"You didn't do anything wrong. People argue. It's fine."
This is how it had been since their fight. Juno veers between great outbursts of self-flagellation and quiet, uncertain attempts to mend fences, but each attempt just leaves them both more off-kilter. Lilith wonders how to swing her into equilibrium, but comes up short.
“Look, I’ll give it a try. Lord knows I need some new reading material.” Lilith lays a gentle shoulder on Juno’s arm. “Thank you.”
“You’re not just saying that to make me feel better, are you?”
“You’ll never know.”
---
THE ONE WHERE THEY GET DISCOVERED
“You know, I’m starting to think they’re not scared of me anymore.”
“Kids get wise fast.” Juno peeks out the window and watches a little girl throw a middle finger at their little house. "And they’ve figured out that you’re not that scary.”
“I’m scary as hell. I could scare the shit outta you.”
“Uh huh.”
Lilith hopes Juno never has to see her prove that statement. “Well if the kids are on to me, we’ll need a new game to pass the time. Any ideas?”
Juno pauses. “Maybe we try to befriend them.”
“Don’t tell me you’re bored of me.”
“No…” Juno smiles shyly. “Just thought it could make life easier.”
“Oh sure. I feed you, I clothe you, I put a roof over your head, and suddenly you decide you need more.” Lilith pauses and grins. “Is that melodramatic enough for you?”
Juno laughs. “Sure was, mom.”
“Don’t call me mom.” Lilith playfully punches Juno’s shoulder. “I’m not old enough to be your mom.”
“I can’t tell the difference after thirty-five. All you old folk look alike.”
“You’ll pay for that.”
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
A panic takes Lilith and she freezes by the kitchen stove. She quickly looks around at the books, the kitchen utensils, the little things she’d built for herself in her brief time in her little house at the end of the road, and she can’t move.
Another knock on the door rings out through the house, and someone tries to turn the door-knob. “That’s not the kids,” Lilith says.
Juno reaches for the lightstick charging by the kitchen table. “We’ll fight them off,” she says.
“I don’t think we will.” Lilith hears the shuffling of their visitors, ten people at least, and closes her eyes, locking in her memories of the simple happiness of the past year.
---
WELCOME TO POLIS, MOTHERFUCKERS
The two women bounce atop the backs of horses like sacks of flour. The aching in Lilith’s back is only drowned out by the terror in her heart.
“One look at me and she’ll have my head," Lilith says. "Not that I wouldn’t deserve it.”
“We’re going to get out of this.” Juno shoots Lilith a worried look. “She who? And why?”
Lilith doesn’t have time to answer. In a flash, the guards covers their faces with burlap hoods, tying them so tightly around the neck that both miss a breath.
“Say your prayers,” a guard whispers in her ear, inches away, his breath so hot it pierces the thick hood. “Heda will see you now.”
Lilith shivers as the guards push them through the hallway. One of them sharply cudgels the back of her knees and she falls to the ground.
“Which of you will face my sword first?” A new voice spreads through the room, nearly drowned out by the relentless clanking of the guards’ armor. “On each side of me, a wanderling too stupid to find a hiding place outside my kingdom.”
Lilith hopes that no one can see her shaking. She knows she should volunteer to go first, to give Juno a better chance of survival, but she chooses silence. She doesn’t want to die. Not yet.
A knife slowly rips into her burlap hood.
Upon seeing her face, the Commander hisses, eyes burning, “So we meet again. And for the last time.” She presses the knife into Lilith’s neck and glances at the other prisoner. “But in the spirit of your own past actions, first you’ll get to watch me turn your companion’s skin inside-out.”
“She has nothing to do with this,” Lilith says. “Please.”
“I remember telling you the same thing. Didn’t seem to have an effect.” The Commander turns to the other prisoner, and with one flick of the knife, cuts open the other hood. Lexa snaps back when she sees the newly revealed face.
“Get out,” the Commander says to her guards. “Now!”
“Well this is just great,” Juno mumbles.